Damian Thompson is Editor of Telegraph Blogs and a columnist for the Daily Telegraph. He was once described by The Church Times as a "blood-crazed ferret". He is on Twitter as HolySmoke. His latest book is The Fix: How addiction is taking over your world. He also writes about classical music for The Spectator.

Michael Jackson's memorial: the BBC takes leave of its senses

Yes, I know Michael Jackson's death was a big story – but there's a difference between being interested into the dramatic details, which I was, and plunging into a state of half nostalgic, half ghoulish, 100 per cent contrived "mourning", which is what the BBC did.

I mean, clearing the schedules of BBC2 – for how long? It seemed like an eternity. Fine for a commercial channel that can raise the sponsorship, but that sort of last-minute adjustment costs a lot of money: public money. Even the celebrity-obsessed website TV Scoop was taken aback by the way the BBC covered the memorial in LA "like a royal death". And there were toe-curling moments, too. "This will be the last reunion of the Jackson 5," said Trevor Nelson as the body was brought on stage. You don't say.

Meanwhile, the BBC website just went nuts. Its main report – one of dozens – sounded like it had been written by Albanian TV for the death of Enver Hoxha. In addition to the nauseating tributes, it reported the following with a straight face:

Civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton gave a fiery speech, telling Jackson's children: "There weren't nothing strange about your daddy. "It was strange what your daddy had to deal with but he dealt with it."

Uh? Not only was Jackson extremely strange, and in a creepy way, but there was something both strange and creepy about this BBC report. I reckon the Corporation has taken leave of its senses recently. It's high time it was subjected to the politicians' expenses treatment, don't you think?